Deseret News - Oct. 11, 1944 - Burma Banshees

THE DESERET NEWS Salt Lake City, Utah - Wednesday, October 11, 1944

COWBOY OF THE SKY WINS ‘TING HAO’ ... Capt. Owen R. Allred of Cedar City, inset, a Tenth Air Force pilot, was a flying hero of the battle of Myitkyina, Burma. In the air so often and so accurate with his pin-point bombing, Allred was loudly acclaimed by Chinese soldiers who would stand in their trenches every time they saw a P-40 and shout "Ting Hao (okay) Allred." Among those servicing his plane with bombs is a Salt Laker, Sgt. Frank C. Burns, next to right. (Tenth Air Force photos.)

Cedar City Man Becomes Hero In Burma
Cowboy Of Air Turns Precision Bomber

   HQ. TENTH AIR FORCE IN INDIA - Out west where men are men and women are riveters, Owen R. Allred, of Cedar City, Utah, used an airplane to occasionally ride herd on cattle, coyotes, wild horses and wolves (the four-legged variety).
   On Nov. 8, 1942, he left Branch State Aggies in his home town to enter the service as an air cadet and on May 9, 1943, he headed for overseas service landing in India.
   This time he had a P-40 Warhawk, instead of the trainer he used to fly back in the States. But he never forgot the fun he had riding herd, and because of his retentive memory, a lot of Japanese ground soldiers have long since joined their ancestors in hell.
   Allred was one of the shining lights in the victorious battle of Myitkyina. He seemed to be in the air over that strip all the time. His voice was heard so often over the plane-to-ground radio that the Chinese forces actually believed that he personally led every flight over Myitkyina. They weren't far wrong, at that, because in the time that he has been ion India, he has piled up 192 combat missions, more than any other fighter-pilot in the China-Burma-India theater.
   One day, on the anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Allred was upstairs over the town of Myitkyina, with orders to blow up a certain strong point. As he circled his target, getting ready for his dive, he noticed several Jpas running through their many inteer-communications trenches to this particular concrete-teakwood reinforced strong point. Capt. Allred asked for permission to circle a few more times to see wjhat would happen, and he got the green light. In all, he circled about ten times, a few more Japs running to "safety" each time. When it looked as though he had ridden herd on as many as he would be able to, he went into his dive, uncorked his bombs and that was all, brother. A few hours later, when Chinese forces moved up, they counted the bodies of an even forty Japs that Allred got.
   Capt. Allred's outfit, which was part of the "Burma Banshees," a Tenth Air Force fighter group, made a brilliant name for itself with this extremely accurate bombing and close support of ground forces at Myitkyina.
   One mission stands out so prominently, that one could be forgiven for thinking it was written by Hollywood script writers. However, documentary proof can be presented testifying to its authenticity.
   At the Myitkyina railroads were two strings of freight cars. When the Japs were slowly being pushed back, they used a part of each string of cars as gun emplacements and pill-boxes. Tactical reconnaissance pilots were sent up to get pictures of the trains, and the ground intelligence then pointed out five cars in one string and only one car in the other string that were the scene of theb trouble.
   "If we can knock these cars out, we shouldn't have too much trouble taking most of the town," Capt. Allred and his fellow pilots were told in their briefing. "Think you fellows can take care of them? they were asked.
   With quiet confidence, the Utahn, as spokesman, thought they could.
   Two flights were sent up, one for each target. One trip was all they needed. They blasted the five cars in the one string without even touching another car. The single freight car suffered a similar fate.
   That was pin-point bombing down to an exact science, an art that has been developed to a remarkably accurate degree by all of Maj. Gen. Howard C. Davidson's Tenth Air Force combat teams.
   So complete and so impressive was their work that it moved Brig. Gen. T. F. Wessels, commanding general of the Myitkyina Task Force to make this statement personally to the pilots in their alert shack: "Yours was an epic of accuracy in close support of ground troops who stood up and cheered while only 40 yards away from the bomb line as your planes zoomed to attack. Your accuracy was magnificent, your devotion tremendous. No one can tell me anything more about close air support."
   Most of the opposition that Capt. Allred met was from ack-ack and ground fire. However, he did encounter the foe twice in the air, and on each occasion, although heavily out-numbered, personally accounted for at least one enemy plane. The first engagement found Captain Allred and only his wingman for company tangling with 30 enemy fighters and bombers. Capt. Allred got two confirmed destroyed, with both American planes getting home safely. On the second occasion, he and three others were attacked again by 30 enemy planes, and this time Capt. Allred picked up one probably destroyed and three damaged. His mates that day knocked down five.
   The Westerner knows what the enemy suffers when bombs are dropped, for once, at Myitkyina, he had to hit the dirt at the runway when Nips came over in force. A frag cluster dropped only 30 feet from him, but fortunately for the air corps, the war effort, our hero and the story, it was a dud.
   In the late stages of the battle of Myitkyina, he averaged seven missions every two days and flew in good and bad weather off a soft runway that was less than 20 yards wide. He and his outfit averaged one flat tire for every four planes that took off and every pilot in the squadron landed with flats, a dangerous proceeding on even a wide, concrete runway.
   Son of Louis R. Allred, of Redondo Beach, Calif., the 25-year-old captain took his primary training at Uvalde, Tex.; basic at Randolph Field and advanced at Kelly Field, graduating from the latter on July 3, 1942.
   With 440 combat hours, he has earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and two clusters, and the Air Medal and three clusters. As a civilian, he had 55 hours.